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Jeremy Grenemyer
Great Reader
USA
2717 Posts |
 Posted - 11 Feb 2015 : 07:13:59
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In this scroll I intend to exercise my idea muscles every day, by coming up with ten ideas relating to Cormyr: encounters, NPCs, treasure and magic items, titles to novels, sourcebook content, spells, crazy gamer merchandise, hypotheses and questions, etc.
Think of it as a workout room of sorts.
Some--no, a lot--of these ideas are going to be bad. Really bad.
But some of them will be good.
If I miss a day, you get to say mean things to me in this scroll, for which I will thank you.
If you feel like working out here too, by all means join me. There's plenty of room.
If something here inspires you, please leave a comment and let me know!
Edit: and thanks for reading! :)
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Look for me and my content at EN World (user name: sanishiver). |
Edited by - Jeremy Grenemyer on 08 Sep 2015 05:36:28
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Jeremy Grenemyer
Great Reader
USA
2717 Posts |
Posted - 11 Feb 2015 : 07:33:17
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Toys of Cormyr
1. Azoun IV action figure. Comes with bed.
2. Queen Fee action figure. Comes with throne.
3. Steel Regent in full armor action figure. Comes with horse.
4. Vangerdahast action figure. Comes with "invisible" chair for Vangey to sit on (made of clear plastic).
5. Huge Thauglomorious (spelling?) action figure. Bigger than the Red Dragon WotC produced for the miniatures line some years back.
6. Amarune and Arclath Delcastle action figures. Sold as a set.
7. The Throne Chamber and Swords of State room play set. Includes secret doors and detachable swords. Purple Dragon guards in ceremonial tabards sold separately.
8. Spawnhall playset. Includes Deepspawn.
9. The Goose of Doom dockside hole in the wall playset.
10. Giogioni (spelling?) and Cat Wyvernspur action figures, sold as a set. Giogioni in Wyvern form sold separately. |
Look for me and my content at EN World (user name: sanishiver). |
Edited by - Jeremy Grenemyer on 11 Feb 2015 07:44:27 |
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The Sage
Procrastinator Most High
Australia
31772 Posts |
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Jeremy Grenemyer
Great Reader
USA
2717 Posts |
Posted - 11 Feb 2015 : 08:06:56
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Thanks!
It would be cool if the Deepspawn toy had a section that clicked open or the toy itself had a hinge and was of two pieces so you could open it, so you could see inside it and get a glimpse of whatever monster or mundane creature was being made.
Or it could just be hollow and you could stick other toys inside it.
The collector's edition version would smell like cinnamon. |
Look for me and my content at EN World (user name: sanishiver). |
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Korginard
Learned Scribe
USA
126 Posts |
Posted - 11 Feb 2015 : 21:42:07
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| Perhaps the Deepspawn toy could be a Playdoh set with different creature molds for it to "replicate" or better yet one of those eazy-bake creepy crawlers type toys that creates little gummy monsters! |
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Irennan
Great Reader
Italy
3805 Posts |
Posted - 11 Feb 2015 : 21:48:13
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quote:
Originally posted by Jeremy Grenemyer
Toys of Cormyr
1. Azoun IV action figure. Comes with bed.
2. Queen Fee action figure. Comes with throne.
3. Steel Regent in full armor action figure. Comes with horse.
4. Vangerdahast action figure. Comes with "invisible" chair for Vangey to sit on (made of clear plastic).
5. Huge Thauglomorious (spelling?) action figure. Bigger than the Red Dragon WotC produced for the miniatures line some years back.
6. Amarune and Arclath Delcastle action figures. Sold as a set.
7. The Throne Chamber and Swords of State room play set. Includes secret doors and detachable swords. Purple Dragon guards in ceremonial tabards sold separately.
8. Spawnhall playset. Includes Deepspawn.
9. The Goose of Doom dockside hole in the wall playset.
10. Giogioni (spelling?) and Cat Wyvernspur action figures, sold as a set. Giogioni in Wyvern form sold separately.
Heh, when reading this, I initally thought that you were talking about in-world toys used by children in Cormyr. Nonetheless some of your ideas could very well be concretized, considering the set of figures that WotC is currently licensing. |
Mathematics is the art of giving the same name to different things. |
Edited by - Irennan on 11 Feb 2015 21:48:37 |
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Wooly Rupert
Master of Mischief
USA
36803 Posts |
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Jeremy Grenemyer
Great Reader
USA
2717 Posts |
Posted - 12 Feb 2015 : 03:15:22
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quote:
Originally posted by Korginard
Perhaps the Deepspawn toy could be a Playdoh set with different creature molds for it to "replicate" or better yet one of those eazy-bake creepy crawlers type toys that creates little gummy monsters!
These ideas are genius.
If I win the Powerball lottery tonight (a healthy 500 million jackpot), then you and I should talk.  |
Look for me and my content at EN World (user name: sanishiver). |
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Jeremy Grenemyer
Great Reader
USA
2717 Posts |
Posted - 12 Feb 2015 : 06:05:10
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Things I want to see in future Cormyr sourcebooks:
1. A map of the Wolf Woods, when Iliphar and the elves were at the peak of their power, that's on par with the map in "Backdrop: Cormyr" done by Mike Schley. Show me where the settlements were. What were their names? What places did the elves discover that were of no interest to Old Thauglomorious, but that posed a danger to the elves? Give me a glimpseof the surrounding lands in that map too. This is how you jumpstart my imagination.
2. A noble family focused on in detail. Show me where their holdings are. Give me the names of their residences and castles and show me where they are on a regional map. Give me pictures of those locations and a couple of detailed maps for them. Tell me who is important, who is locked up in Irlingstar, who is a traitor and who is a no account waste of time. Tell me about family treasures, family secrets, moments of bravery, where they died and how they became ennobled. Tell me their titles, ranks at court, status vis-a-vis the a purple Dragons, how the Crown views them and why it's a good idea for PC nobles to come from this family and/or for a DM to use this family in a campaign. Give me lots of names and a lengthy family history from the founder to the modern era.
3. A full page portrait depicting a Deepspawn as it's birthing a creature.
4. Tell me when, and to what extent, the drow were most active on the surface of Cormyr, even if this happened before Cormyr existed.
5. Give me an honest to goodness three to four years of current clack writeups for Cormyr, set in the modern era.
6. A portrait of Iliphar on his throne, surrounded by his closest advisors and his rivals.
7. A giant list of lost treasures, who supposedly lost them, and where the loss took place.
8. A list of Cormyrean dungeons that does not include the Haunted Halls.
9. A handful of currently active adventuring companies, some with rosters.
10. A monthly series of articles, published online or in print form, that covers unique rooms in the Royal Court, and that meanders from one room to the next by describing what hallways, passages, doors, secret doors, etc., link these rooms. |
Look for me and my content at EN World (user name: sanishiver). |
Edited by - Jeremy Grenemyer on 12 Feb 2015 06:07:58 |
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The Sage
Procrastinator Most High
Australia
31772 Posts |
Posted - 12 Feb 2015 : 07:27:23
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quote:
Originally posted by Jeremy Grenemyer
3. A full page portrait depicting a Deepspawn as it's birthing a creature.
That would indeed be neato. As I recall, Ed has said that a Deepspawn duplicates exactly any particular creature it has devoured. The birthing process should be equally disturbing, I think. |
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Jeremy Grenemyer
Great Reader
USA
2717 Posts |
Posted - 13 Feb 2015 : 05:54:37
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Ten things I wish I could hear:
1. The sound of Storm Silverhand's voice as she sings to a newborn baby so the mother can get some rest, somewhere in Cormyr.
2. The sounds in and around Suzail's docks, at the start of a busy day.
3. Nobles conversing in any of the highcoin establishments they frequent in Suzail.
4. Vangerdahast crying.
5. Crown mages practicing with wands that hurl forth magic missiles, fireballs and lightening bolts.
6. Azoun IV making love to Queen Fee.
7. A Xraunrar beholder smacking its lips in anticipation of a meal, somewhere in the Thunder Peaks.
8. Myrmeen Lhal conducting business in Arabel.
9. A wyvern's call.
10. Any good ghost story told by commoners.
Edit: fixed a formatting tag. |
Look for me and my content at EN World (user name: sanishiver). |
Edited by - Jeremy Grenemyer on 13 Feb 2015 05:59:59 |
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Fellfire
Master of Realmslore
1965 Posts |
Posted - 13 Feb 2015 : 06:19:49
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| How very voyeuristic. |
Misanthorpe
Love is a lie. Only hate endures. Light is blinding. Only in darkness do we see clearly.
"Oh, you think darkness is your ally? You merely adopted the dark. I was born in it, molded by it. I didn't see the light until I was already a man, by then it was nothing to me but.. blinding. The shadows betray you because they belong to me." - Bane The Dark Knight Rises
Green Dragonscale Dice Bag by Crystalsidyll - check it out
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Jeremy Grenemyer
Great Reader
USA
2717 Posts |
Posted - 14 Feb 2015 : 03:01:34
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Unusual; playing against type:
1. A heavily muscled War Wizard, shorn of all body hair, his skin oiled and smooth.
2. A noble bent over, digging in the dirt by hand, wearing old worn out clothes, indistinguishable from the labored on either side of him.
3. A dwarf swimming happily in the Wyvernwater.
4. An opulent fortress mansion in the Stonelands.
5. A priest of Mystra hoarding spell scrolls and spellbooks.
6. A Chancepriest with really bad luck.
7. A group of elves digging a mine below the Stormhorns.
8. A group of nobles handing out food and coins to the impoverished and destitute in Suzail.
9. Chartered Adventurers returning to their original owners--or the owners descendants--at the coins and lost treasures the adventurers recovered.
10. A squad of Purple Dragons all afflicted with minor magical powers. |
Look for me and my content at EN World (user name: sanishiver). |
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Jeremy Grenemyer
Great Reader
USA
2717 Posts |
Posted - 15 Feb 2015 : 06:39:05
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Product Ideas:
1. A map book of modern day Cormyr, that divides the Forest Kingdom up by regions and features detailed maps of those regions. Cities, towns, hamlets, abandoned towns, ruins, odd terrain features, regular terrain features, wizard's towers, noble estates, merchant estates, Crown fortifications, old quarries and mines, battle sites, temples...you name it, it's on the map. And don't include explanations of what everything is. As a DM I can do that. Just give me the names to help me get started.
2. A book of castles...no, scratch that. An ongoing monthly series that focuses on castles in Cormyr. There are SO many of them. I would like to see this series focus on Azoun's Hold and Castle Nacacia to start. Layouts and cutaway artwork a must. Sidebars on the history of castle building in Cormyr would be awesome. Then move on to the castles that have been repurposed to house insane war wizards, retired Purple Dragons and noble criminals.
3. The depths below the Thunder Peaks. Show me where some (not all) of the active and inactive dragon lairs are at. What about illithids and beholders? Where do the Xraunrrar lair? What of the Giants of old? Have sky castles fallen to earth that have yet to be discovered? Where are the dwarves and the drow and the gnomes? The orcs and the hobgoblins? Then tell me how the denizens of the Thunder Peaks have influenced Cormyr down the centuries.
4. A one hundred page book of encounters, with both color and black and white drawings. Not just endless encounter lists, mind, but a concise "why things are the way they are" description of different parts of Cormyr that helps me as a DM to build my own encounters. Compare and contrast different areas to help me get the point. Then tell me about crazy things that happened in Cormyr's past so I can see examples of just how wild it can get. THEN give me the lists and I will be way more amped to use them.
5. Volo's Guide to Magic In Cormyr. And no I don't want yet another description of the magical gear war wizards and Purple Dragons use. Don't spend too much time on the wards of the palace and court, or the creations of the Sword Heralds. Give me everything else instead: all the baubles and trinkets made by mages that have gotten loose, the nature and kinds of magical cast offs that seem to litter the environs around war wizard schools (like the one at Espar), the endless variety and styles of wand crafting and spellbook making--tell me who has influenced the craft and how a PC might distinguish one style from another. Then give me a sample Council of Mages meeting by Ed Greenwood and intersperse the dry details of how such a meeting works around the story. Tell me about still lingering elf magic and what it was old Thauglomorious did to the Weave down the years. Give me mechanics, but keep it light. Tell me where awesome spell ingredients and materials to craft items for spellbooks can be found so I have a direction to send PCs in.
6. Expand Brian Cortino's "Crowns and Mantles: the Ranks and Titles of Cormry" into a full 48 page softcover sourcebook. Give me NPC names that hold various titles and/or ranks at Court. Likewise for the Purple Dragons. Show me what the difference is between a Dragonfang Lord Investigator and a Sceptre of Justice. In other words, use this book as an opportunity to bust out some of the really cool courtly titles and give me the 411 on what the duties they entail and powers they confer.
7. A book of dungeons for Pete's sake! There are enough abandoned castles in Cormyr that some of them must have cellars and tunnels below, so give me names, locations and a few maps, as well as spots sparse on details so I can fill them in myself.
8. A sourcebook featuring an unreliable narrator.
9. An article discussing the Hainted Wing of the Royal Palace, with a cutaway view and some history of this Palace wing.
10. A sourcebook that TEACHES me how to build believable dungeons in Cormyr. I.e. places that make sense, are not out of place and are not just randomly there. This is a book for Ed Greenwood.
11. Any sourcebook, adventure, article or novel set in Cormyr that is the product of a Jeff Grubb and Ed Greenwood team up. Those two make the magic happen.
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Jeremy Grenemyer
Great Reader
USA
2717 Posts |
Posted - 16 Feb 2015 : 07:11:11
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Encounter Ideas:
1. A handful of adventurers or Purple Dragons and a few war wizards battling orcs and an ogre magi. Blades paused mid-swing. Spells unleashed, but fixed in place. Blood suspended in the air. Cries of agony and roars of rage left hanging and impotent in the air. Who will be first to walk in the midst of a battle frozen in place?
2. Whenever and wherever one of the PCs goes into a place with other people, murderers, criminals and cats are attracted to the PC. They hang around, sometimes they try to start a conversation (the cats are just friendly), but they don't cause trouble unless accosted and seem genuinely disappointed when the PC leaves or ignored them. Offers to join in on the latest criminal activity are frequent.
3. A merchant mage hawking wares in Arabel. Among them a tuning fork that when struck against the metal of any weapon and then placed close to one's ear will whisper the name of the last being to be slain by that weapon. The tuning fork vibrates, but makes no discernible noise, when struck against anything else.
4. Felgolos the Flying Misfortune happens to the PCs. What else do you need?
5. A pair of rooms below ground that are not so much hidden away as rarely ever used, somewhere in southern Cormyr--perhaps early failed attempts by the Sword Heralds-- that render into infants anyone who enters the first room, and into elderly old men or women anyone who enters into the second room. The effect may be reversed simply by exiting, and while inside one does not age. Any being with an Obarsky ancestor is immune to this effect. The family living above ground have never experienced the effect, though they've all been in the pair of old rooms, and the other rooms and hallways nearby, at least once.
6. A blind young boy, scion of lesser nobility, who can only see when he touches one of the five large scrying spheres in the cellars below Wizard's Run. He is slowly learning to command the scattered remnants of animated objects that still litter the keep and surrounding lands, and the boy has taken to spying on the residents of nearby farms via a floating gauntlet. Each night he searches for more pieces of armor, and hopes to have a full suit assembled someday, figuring he can go out and see the world in it and not be bothered. These plans are set aside when his flying gauntlet comes upon a group of adventurers camping for the night.
7. One thousand gnomes. Maybe they're angry, maybe not. Either way, they're all moving in the same direction and the PCs are in the way. You take it from here.
8. Ten thousand intelligent and vicious hobgoblins march on the Stonelands under Bane's banner. War is promised to anyone who tries to dislodge the host. Cormyr offers noble titles and grants of land to anyone who gives battle to the host and manages to route them.
9. A small town or village is afflicted with extreme cold, no matter the time of year. There are only a handful of children, who seem to do all the work. There are adults, but they are all illusions--magical projections animated by the spirits of the dead that haunt each residence or place where they all died simultaneously. The ability to project a living image the gift of a benevolent vampire arch age, who buried all of the dead and placed a magical token in each of the burial plots. The children are very much alive and seem immune to the cold. A gift from the vampire allows the children to become invisible within the village borders. Something outside the village wants the children, its first attempt slew the parents by mistake, but it cannot enter. Vampire and unknown entity wage a quiet battle, and the PCs are drawn in as pawns on one or both sides.
10. Another failed Sword Herald attempt: a room where gravity is reversed. While in the room one does not age. On the contrary, one gets younger: a day inside becomes a day younger, a month for a month and so on.
It occurs to me that failed Sword Herald rooms could be a topic all on its own.
Thanks for reading. |
Look for me and my content at EN World (user name: sanishiver). |
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Jeremy Grenemyer
Great Reader
USA
2717 Posts |
Posted - 16 Feb 2015 : 07:24:27
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I am thinking that kindly vampire ought to be a priest of the Lord of Bones and not an archmage.
For the blind noble:
One of the crystal balls--they're all different too; made of different materials like obsidian or a dragon's eye--links to animated objects. Used just right and you can see around the object. This requires touching the crystal ball in order to receive a mental image, as opposed to simply looking into it and takin in the view presented.
Not all the objects can fly, just some. So Belmer the Blind uses the flying gauntlet to scout about and find the places where the other objects might be. He's scared a few folks this way, and learned it's better to move things about at night.
Maybe he has a stash somewhere.
Reminder: ask Ed about blind nobles in Cormyr. |
Look for me and my content at EN World (user name: sanishiver). |
Edited by - Jeremy Grenemyer on 16 Feb 2015 09:13:54 |
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Gary Dallison
Great Reader
United Kingdom
6361 Posts |
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Jeremy Grenemyer
Great Reader
USA
2717 Posts |
Posted - 16 Feb 2015 : 09:07:22
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Thank you for pointing me to that Forging the Realms article. I had not read it and there is a lot of idea potential in it.
I am not privy to any secrets about Thauglor. I have just always thought that the Devil Dragon's ability to snatch anyone teleporting in Cormyr into her maw was the product of magic she knew about as an elf, but could not access until she became a dragon. It follows another dragon must have shaped the Weave--the Purple Dragon of Cormyr being the likely culprit.
That, and different sources say the Obarskyrs and the people of Cormyr have a mystical connection to Cormyr. My theory is that this connection is made through the Weave and so it belonged to the elves in Iliphar's time, and they shaped it a little, but not nearly as much as Old Thauglor, who did the heavy lifting. Humans don't have the same connection to the Weave that elves and Dragons do, so we don't see that link outwardly, but the Obarskyrs can still level dying curses and the like.
I wonder whether the Sword Heralds didn't cotton on to changes in the Weave too. Perhaps this is why they built their refuges, because the Weave in Cormyr was amenable to the work.
Clear as mud? 
Edit: I agree with you 100%. What Thauglor was doing is a topic Brian and Ed ought to be poked about. And I hope we get semi-cryptic answers as opposed to the dreaded NDA, because I want to know just enough to get my imagination going. After you... |
Look for me and my content at EN World (user name: sanishiver). |
Edited by - Jeremy Grenemyer on 16 Feb 2015 09:16:48 |
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Gary Dallison
Great Reader
United Kingdom
6361 Posts |
Posted - 16 Feb 2015 : 09:41:37
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quote:
Originally posted by Jeremy Grenemyer
Thank you for pointing me to that Forging the Realms article. I had not read it and there is a lot of idea potential in it.
I am not privy to any secrets about Thauglor. I have just always thought that the Devil Dragon's ability to snatch anyone teleporting in Cormyr into her maw was the product of magic she knew about as an elf, but could not access until she became a dragon. It follows another dragon must have shaped the Weave--the Purple Dragon of Cormyr being the likely culprit.
That, and different sources say the Obarskyrs and the people of Cormyr have a mystical connection to Cormyr. My theory is that this connection is made through the Weave and so it belonged to the elves in Iliphar's time, and they shaped it a little, but not nearly as much as Old Thauglor, who did the heavy lifting. Humans don't have the same connection to the Weave that elves and Dragons do, so we don't see that link outwardly, but the Obarskyrs can still level dying curses and the like.
I wonder whether the Sword Heralds didn't cotton on to changes in the Weave too. Perhaps this is why they built their refuges, because the Weave in Cormyr was amenable to the work.
Clear as mud?
Edit: I agree with you 100%. What Thauglor was doing is a topic Brian and Ed ought to be poked about. And I hope we get semi-cryptic answers as opposed to the dreaded NDA, because I want to know just enough to get my imagination going. After you...
Whoa, teleporting people into her gob, and people linked to the weave. How did i miss these, i really need to brush up on my cormyr stuff. I always tend to gloss over the well developed areas because there is less wiggle room for reinterpretation but i cant believe i missed something so juicy.
Okay so i'm asking about Thauglor, his offspring, his current status, his tinkering with the weave and any after effects that may have had, plus what is his legacy to Cormyr beyond the purple dragon imagery |
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Jeremy Grenemyer
Great Reader
USA
2717 Posts |
Posted - 17 Feb 2015 : 06:22:35
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Cormyr Should Thrive. Here's How You Can Help:
1. Go to the Chamber of Sages on this here website and ask questions of every single author and game designer who has ever worked on Cormyr. Try for at least one question a week.
2. Write Wizards of the Coast and ask them for more Cormyr. Try for once a month. Emailing them through customer service is an easy way to do it. Even better: snail mail.
3. Complete your collection of Cormyr-related sourcebooks and novels.
4. Contribute Cormyr Realmslore to the Forgotten Realms Wiki.
5. Ask your DM to set adventures or a whole campaign in Cormyr.
6. Look for Cormyr novels at your local library. If they don't have something, pester them to add the missing books to their collection or offer to donate the missing books from your collection. Then encourage them to add other books by these same authors to the stacks.
7. If you are a DM, run adventures or whole campaigns in Cormyr.
8. Hunt for copies of Cormyr novels that are in good condition at used bookstores and garage sales, and donate them to book drives of all types.
9. Got a niece or nephew who is just getting into the science fiction/fantasy reading, or is discovering the Realms through organized play or MMOs? Hand him or her a couple of your favorite Cormyr novels. You will be glad you did.
10. Have an open door agreement with your best gaming friends that you run D&D campaigns for (in Cormyr, of course): they are welcome to borrow any of your Cormyr novels. If they like the book then they can keep it, but they have to buy you a copy in like condition from Amazon.com and ship it to you as a replacement.
11. Start Cormyr-related threads on other gaming websites. The "Let's Read" threads at RPG.net are good examples of how to do it.
12. Post your Cormyr campaign experiences online, whether you're a player or DM. |
Look for me and my content at EN World (user name: sanishiver). |
Edited by - Jeremy Grenemyer on 17 Feb 2015 06:27:10 |
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Gary Dallison
Great Reader
United Kingdom
6361 Posts |
Posted - 17 Feb 2015 : 15:54:38
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Well here we are with the answers from Ed/THO
quote:
First and foremost among the questions for me is what is the current status of the purple dragon. I realise history records him as being killed but i am wondering if that is the entire story."
THO: So far as I understand, this is still NDA.
"Second, has Thauglor ever been involved with any tinkerings in the weave around Cormyr (like Embrurshaille in Thar)."
THO: Yes.
"Sources indicate that the Obarskyr family are linked in some way to the Weave and this may have been inherited (not in a genetic sense but perhaps through knowledge or manipulation) from the elves. Is this linkage and malleability of the Weave in Cormyr in any way linked to Thauglor and have any other groups or peoples discovered and exploited this link (such as the Sword Heralds or Nalavaroth the Devil Dragon who Jeremy informs me could direct teleporting mages within Cormyr into her mouth). [Jeremy: "Oops! I meant to say she could redirect already teleporting wizards away from their destination directly into her maw."]"
THO: BIG NDA here. Beyond hints Ed has given me in the past that several individual dragons know some secrets of the Weave, and exploit them, and that this is the source of much "dragon magic" that doesn't fit the casting of known arcane magic spells.
"Third, what is the legacy of Thauglor, does he have any children, does he survive in some fashion, where is his lair and has it been discovered yet, how did he shape Cormyr after its beginnings (when he allowed the realm to be settled) apart from the purple dragon imagery which i understand started with Prince/King Duar."
THO: NDAs, yes, but I do know Thauglor had children. How many and their fates and/or present dispositions, I don't know - - but I can tell you that in the home Realms campaign, years ago, we encountered a beautiful human woman who escaped us in dragonshape (and so was a weredragon or song dragon or something else able to shapechange into a dragon and back) who used the name "Tharaela Blood-Of-Thauglor." And I'm afraid that's ALL I know about her, except that we Knights saw her watching us, just for an instant, years later.
And of course that means that Ed, as our DM, probably isn't going to say much more about this mysterious Tharaela.
However, when it comes to spilling about Thauglorimorgorus (who of course Ed created and named, though Jeff Grubb first brought him to life onstage in fiction, in CORMYR: A Novel; that is, Jeff wrote the first draft of the Thauglor scenes), we'll see . . .
love,
THO
and
quote:
And in regards to your second question (the one I answered with a bald "yes" because I've no idea until Ed and I talk how much I can share, let's just say that several of the Royal Magicians of Cormyr have come to believe that the dragons worked covertly with the Weave before both elves and humans were "allowed" to come into the area that is now Cormyr, possiby as something of an experiment. (The ability of certain dragons to work with the Weave akin to the way the veteran Chosen of Mystra do is one of the great unexplored areas of Realmslore - - and every time I nudge Ed to provide more, he smilingly directs me to his next novel, and his next, and his . . .
What that could be weaved into i dont know. I like to immerse myself into a region before doing any musing and i havent touched Cormyr yet beyond cataloguing some lore.
That Thauglor's duel and death may have been a deliberate act are intriguing and almost certainly linked to his tinkerings with the weave.
Most dragons (and indeed all other creatures as well) become obsessed with preserving themselves or their after such a long life. Why Thauglor needed elves and humans living in Cormyr to accomplish that i dont know. Maybe he is some kind of dragon weave ghost (although that might have already been done), or perhaps he is a wandering intelligence that can possess anyone inside Cormyr's bondaries, perhaps the last stage of his plan has not yet come to fruition.
Anyway, i will cease thread hijacking. Keep flexing the idea muscles, i will be pinching many of them no doubt when i do my alternate take on Cormyr. |
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Jeremy Grenemyer
Great Reader
USA
2717 Posts |
Posted - 17 Feb 2015 : 16:04:02
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By all means continue with your suppositions!
This is a thread for ideas about Cormyr, of all types. |
Look for me and my content at EN World (user name: sanishiver). |
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Jeremy Grenemyer
Great Reader
USA
2717 Posts |
Posted - 18 Feb 2015 : 05:24:43
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Ten Things Thauglor Might Have Done/Attempted To Do To The Weave:
1. Turned it into a shield to protect him from the madness brought on by the King Killer Star.
2. Made it possible for him to see and hear anywhere in Cormyr, as though the entire place was his lair.
3. Learned to fall into the Weave and become a part of it, and perhaps become aware of and see the doings of magically gifted mortals, and sense and see/hear whatever is in the presence of magic items.
4. Inadvertently created a magical redoubt that resisted the worst of the Spellplague and so allowed Mystra to have a place to survive until her ascension a century later.
5. Created or searched for extra dimensional pockets, the better to hide his hoard, leaving things ripe for the Sword Heralds to get to work hunting for his treasures, leaving plenty of handy safe holds in the process.
6. Made it easier to cow the minds of lesser dragons.
7. Create pockets of raw magical might, that could be called upon when facing other dragons or several mages of power.
8. Smoothed out the rough edges, untied any Weave tangles, ensured areas of dead magic were few or otherwise remote, walled off so no spy could use them to hide from the Dragon.
9. Left Weave whispers and echoes of his commands and instructions to his spawn and to his agents, that can be heard in specific places whenever the right spell or spells are cast in that area.
10. Turned it into the ultimate phylactery, and tied it into the blood of Iliphar, and later the blood of the Obarskyrs. So long as the Weave exists (no matter how diminished) and mortals of Royal blood draw breath, Thauglor can never truly die.
Edit: fixed a formatting tag. |
Look for me and my content at EN World (user name: sanishiver). |
Edited by - Jeremy Grenemyer on 18 Feb 2015 05:27:50 |
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Gary Dallison
Great Reader
United Kingdom
6361 Posts |
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Jeremy Grenemyer
Great Reader
USA
2717 Posts |
Posted - 18 Feb 2015 : 18:08:13
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If Thauglor distributed the madness to other minds, you'd think Cormyr would be more of a strife torn place. However, with a sufficient population I think the madness might get diluted to the point where people are simply restless.
If we ever get a super detailed timeline of Cormyr, it might be worth it to look for periods of growth and expansion in the wake of a Dracorage. I am not sure how often the Dracorage happens though.
Regarding the rise of the elves in the Wolf Woods: perhaps Iliphar discovered too late the long game Thauglor was playing; that Iliphar and his had been tested, found strong enough to survive and so Thauglor "departed", when really he got to work quietly binding the elves to the Weave in the Woods. Once Iliphar saw the danger, perhaps he became sad. The rise of men deepened his sadness, but it also gave him a chance to test the mettle of the humans, and then to pass the burden on to them.
Perhaps Thauglor foresaw this. This seems like the sort of long game a dragon would play.
Their are dark forces that want a stable Cormyr, like the Xraunrrar, which would help further Thauglor's existence. If this is the case, that's a smart dragon |
Look for me and my content at EN World (user name: sanishiver). |
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Gary Dallison
Great Reader
United Kingdom
6361 Posts |
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Jeremy Grenemyer
Great Reader
USA
2717 Posts |
Posted - 18 Feb 2015 : 23:58:01
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| Wow, I have never heard of Orva before. Was that from Grand History? |
Look for me and my content at EN World (user name: sanishiver). |
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Eltheron
Senior Scribe
740 Posts |
Posted - 19 Feb 2015 : 05:11:39
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quote:
Originally posted by dazzlerdal
Well the original kingdom of elves in Cormyr was called Orva and if I remember the lore from Ed and George and others it became a devil infested hell hole soon after its founding.
Illiphar was off helping Cormanthor fight the Twisted Tower and upon his return to Cormyr he received help from the coronal to cleanse Orva and re-establish it with himself as Laranlor.
So perhaps Thauglor's first attempt at tinkering was an abysmal failure and caused the devil infestation of Orva (it made the elves evil).
His second attempt may well have involved the collusion of Illiphar (I.e. you can live here with your elves if you agree to my terms and the duel was a fake) who beat him at his own game by inviting the humans into Cormyr so as to interfere with Thauglor's tinkering. He then departed for other lands happy in the knowledge that the dragon was screwed.
We must be thinking along the same lines because I already checked for periods of expansion and comet appearances. Unfortunately the comet it pretty lacklustre in appearance. I know of one in 1018 DR and a possible other occurrence in -500 DR.
Of course the link might work both ways and so the dragons in cormyr become more susceptible to human traits while the humans become more susceptible to draconic traits. Therefore the expansion of Cormyr could be down to the greed and power hungry nature of Thauglor.
Its certainly an angle I'm going to run with when I do my alternate of Cormyr. I've always wanted to twist the nation to be more evil and sinister instead of a power for good. Authoritarian regimes are just begging to be made appear evil.
Just as an aside, the primary source for the Kingdom of Orva was Four From Cormyr.
It was located circa -700 DR in the area known as the Vast Swamp, and was destroyed as you noted.
However, it probably wasn't an Elvish kingdom. It used the Thorass language, which was a variant of the old human language Chondathan derived partly from the old giants' language and partly from other inclusions.
It may have been partly elvish, or had strong elvish influences, as one of its deities was Chronos, a god of Time -- later, Chronos was believed to have been an avatar of Labelas Enoreth.
Orvaskyte Keep was its "northernmost outpost" and another odd tidbit connects Orva with sometimes using the old Mulhorand calendar (despite having their own calendar).
To me, this suggests a fairly wide trading network, at least from the multi-language influences and their occasional use of the Mulhorand calendar.
Or perhaps not. I'm not aware of any other source material for Orva.
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"The very best possible post-fourteenth-century Realms lets down those who love the specific, detailed social, political and magical situation, with its thousands of characters, developed over forty years, and want to learn more about it; and those who'd be open to a new one with equal depth, which there just isn't time to re-produce; and those repelled, some past the point of no return, by the bad-taste-and-plausibility gap of things done to the world when its guardianship was less careful."
--Faraer |
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Jeremy Grenemyer
Great Reader
USA
2717 Posts |
Posted - 19 Feb 2015 : 05:26:48
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| That information is very useful. Thanks, Eltheron. |
Look for me and my content at EN World (user name: sanishiver). |
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Eltheron
Senior Scribe
740 Posts |
Posted - 19 Feb 2015 : 05:33:27
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quote:
Originally posted by Jeremy Grenemyer
That information is very useful. Thanks, Eltheron.
You're welcome.
Just FYI, there has been some unique and some crazy speculation on Orva over the years. I don't think any of it has been validated, though.
Some people have tried connecting it to the pre-Netheril nation of Thaeravel, others have tried connecting it to the Elven nation of Cormanthir (with the i, not the y). |
"The very best possible post-fourteenth-century Realms lets down those who love the specific, detailed social, political and magical situation, with its thousands of characters, developed over forty years, and want to learn more about it; and those who'd be open to a new one with equal depth, which there just isn't time to re-produce; and those repelled, some past the point of no return, by the bad-taste-and-plausibility gap of things done to the world when its guardianship was less careful."
--Faraer |
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Jeremy Grenemyer
Great Reader
USA
2717 Posts |
Posted - 19 Feb 2015 : 06:13:16
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The Camber of Sages is a Goldmine. Why Don't You Like Gold?
Several game designers and novelists have worked on Cormyr over the years. Off the top of my head: Brian Cortijo, Erin M Evans, Sean Reynolds, Brian R. James and Ed Greenwood--all of whom have active threads in the Chamber of Sages sub-forum.
You, dear reader, should be asking all of them questions about Cormyr. And then you should ask them questions about the business, and the process, of writing and/or game design.
What kinds of questions? Well, let's see...
1. How did you get started working on Cormyr?
2. If for some crazy reason you were assigned somebody else's characters to write, who would you be most afraid to write, and who would you be most excited to write?
3. What's missing from Cormyr that you wish you could focus on in a sourcebook or novel?
4. You just crashed head on into writer's block. What do you do now?
5. What parts of Cormyr do you not like, or otherwise feel needs work/less emphasis in future products?
6. Pick one or two of your favorite characters. Now riddle me this: what's under their bed? How about in their closet? How about when they were children? Also, what did they have for lunch? And do they have any phobias about using the jakes? What happens to their posture when they grow bored?
7. What are you reading currently?
8. Are there any authors or genres of books you avoid while working on a novel or a sourcebook?
9. If you had free reign to write any sort of novel or sourcebook about Cormyr, then you would write...?
10. What's your favorite part or aspect of Cormyr?
11. Romance novels set in Cormyr. Good idea or bad idea? (Personally I like the idea.)
12. If you were in charge of marketing, what would you be doing now that WotC isn't doing? How about if you had an unlimited budget?
13. Ask them specific questions, hard questions and questions outside of their comfort zone, such as, "What effect do temples in Cormyr have on trade, mercantilism and the economy in the Forest Kingdom, and the surrounding lands?"
14. If you could grab someone--anyone--to write a novel or sourcebook set in Cormyr, who would you pick and why?
Don't be afraid to ask questions. Don't worry if something has already been asked and answered. Who knows, you might even inspire someone. It's happened before. |
Look for me and my content at EN World (user name: sanishiver). |
Edited by - Jeremy Grenemyer on 19 Feb 2015 07:54:45 |
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Cormyr: Flexing My Idea Muscle
